Nippon Steel & Steelmaker's (X.US) Acquisition Deal Delayed By U.S.

New Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel (X.US) announced in a joint statement late Saturday that the Biden administration has delayed until mid-June its order that Nippon Steel abandon its $14.9 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel.

President Biden, on January 3, blocked the proposed deal on national security grounds after CFIUS failed to reach consensus on the merger.

The companies said: "We are pleased that CFIUS has extended the Biden administration's executive order requiring the parties to permanently abandon the transaction until June 18, 2025. We look forward to completing the transaction, which will bring the best future for the U.S. steel industry and all of our stakeholders."

The White House and the United Steelworkers union, which opposed the deal, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Biden and the incoming president, Donald Trump, both said they opposed the deal.

The companies filed suit last week, seeking to overturn the order, claiming that Biden's opposition to the deal deprived them of a fair review. They asked the federal appeals court to overturn Biden's order and to order a new review to allow them to complete the merger.

Also last week, U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt called on Trump to reverse Biden's "wrong, shameful, corrupt" decision to block the deal, while Nippon Steel's chief operating officer Eiji Hashimoto said he had no alternative to stopping the stalled acquisition.